Careening merrily down my own twisted alleyway of strangeness

Friday, 11 September 2009

More Highland Tales

I'm determined to finish this trip, even if it has been a few months. Bear with me.

Okay, so, after the wild, wet weather broke (for five minutes) we ventured northwest towards the Isle of Skye and stopped at an amazing place....yes, another castle. But an exquisite sight nontheless, no? Och, aye!

You can't fault us wee American lasses for lovin' the castle thing. Americans don't see the hundreds of years of history still standing all that often.

I recommend the tour. Eilean Donan Castle has gone through a lot of changes in its many centuries of existence and you are able to see the many variations the structure has gone through and which clan was fight over it when, etc.

And the Scottish gentleman answering questions in the Banquet Hall will show you just how big a Scottish Claymore sword really is. No, that is not an innuendo.

Note: when you pick it up the massively heavy Claymore sword, don't drop it or accidentally cleave the skull of the nice Norwegian tourist next to you. It's rude.

Now we come to why Shannon is such a geek. We are walking around inside (where you can't take pictures) and I come across a picture in one of the bed chambers, which happens to be a scene from Highlander. I manage a wide grin and motion Mel over to look. Mel is not a movie-dork like me; she is mostly sane and has no idea what the heck I'm all excited about. Fine. So I revel in my geekiness for a moment more before moving on.

We then moved on to the Skye Bridge, which, funnily enough, is the bridge between the mainland and the Isle of Skye. I would have liked to explore Skye further, but when it is pouring and the wind is against you every step of the way, it's really not worth it. We drove over and back -- because we could-- and then retraced our steps back toward the Cairngorms National Park where we would be staying that night.